National Album Day

The first National Album Day seems like an appropriate time to make my first post here in ages. see the official website for more details. Among other things, it says:

“...2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the album format, making it the perfect time to show our respect of truly iconic albums, as well as our personal favourites and looking to the future of the album and how it will evolve in response to changes in technology and music consumption.”

There are a host of events all round the country (although The website doesn’t make it easy to just see what’s happening near where you are) but I’ll be going for this suggested activity:

“Saturday 13th October is the first National Album Day! You're invited to take part in the nation's biggest album playback at 3.33pm by playing your all-time favourite album in full. Share with us what you have chosen at @AlbumDayUK / #NationalAlbumDay”

At 3:33pm; see what they did there?

Me, at 3:33pm, I'll be playing Rush - A Farewell To Kings and, much as I enjoy the recently remastered version, I'll be playing my original vinyl version that I bought when I was a teenager!

Free Download Friday: Steven Wilson

I wrote a review of Steven Wilson's new album, 4 1/2 for the Moshville Times. While I was researching it, I found a bucketload of free downloads on Steven Wilson's Soundcloud page. I've embedded two below. If you want more, go to his Soundcloud page.

Enjoy!

Free Download Friday: Rival Sons

I am hugely impressed with the Rival Sons so I don't know why I have never signed up to their mailing list before. When I finally did the other night, I was pleasantly surprised to find that as well as being added to their list, I was also offered a free download of a live track: "Get What's Coming".

Watch the official (non-live recording) video or go to their website, sign up in the sidebar where it says "Get Enlisted", download and enjoy.

Album Reviews

Another two album reviews posted on Moshville Times:

• Uriah Heep - Outsider
• Rush - Hemispheres

One I am utterly positive about and one that I have a reservation about but otherwise liked. Can you guess which one is which?

Free Download Friday: The Sun Explodes

I have not posted a Free Download Friday for ages. This is mainly because available downloads are now few and far between. I suspect this is in part due to the rise in streaming services which make it possible to get music out there without having to give it away. This makes me sad but I understand the commercial realities. But, it also makes it all the more pleasing when a good download becomes available.

You may have noticed my review of The Sun Explodes - The Calm, The Storm. Clearly, Last FM noted how often I was listening to this band so that, the last time I logged in, Last FM drew my attention to three free tracks:

• Weigh Your Sins
• The Game, and
• The Fake

Couldn't find any details of when this EP was released but it feels old. Much less polished than The Calm, The Storm, but still interesting.

As always, let me know what you think in a comment.

Free download: The Sun Explodes  - EP

Review: Rush - A Farewell To Kings

It took me a while but I finally managed to finish my review of A Farewell To Kings, the April re-issue from The Twelve Months Of Rush series. This was the first Rush album I heard and it was the one that got me hooked, not only to Rush, but to rock music in general. After all these years, it remains one of my favourite Rush albums.

I am enjoying listening to and reviewing stuff for the Moshville Times but the writing gets squished into what little free time I have, so it takes me a long time to finish things. Let me know what you think of the review either here or on Moshville Times. Is it worth the time it takes me?

Review: The Sun Explodes

I have managed to post another review to Moshville Times. The band is The Sun Explodes and the review is of their latest EP, The Calm, the Storm which will be released on 18 May.

Up until now, I have reviewed bands that I already knew but I had never heard of this band until I was offered the chance to review their work. After one listen, I knew I wanted to hear more. I had to arm wrestle one of the other Moshville crew members for the privilege of reviewing their EP but it was worth it. 

If you read what written, you'll see I am convinced that it is a Concept EP. I've had a bit of correspondence with the band who claim that it is not, but what do they know? They only wrote it. I'm the one who listened!

Comments and constructive criticism welcome either here on on the review at the Moshville site. 

Review: Uriah Heep - Live At Koko

I have just posted my first non-Rush related review at The Moshville Times: Uriah Heep - Live At Koko.

Uriah Heep was one of those bands that, as a teenager, I was aware of but somehow never connected with. I even had a poster of one of their covers on my wall but, until relatively recently, I did not own any of their albums. I got the poster because it was by Roger Dean an artist I came across through the work he did with Yes. I saw the poster in Listen in Renfield Street (now there was a record shop!) and bought it because I thought it looked cool. It was only after it was on my wall that I discovered it was album art for Uriah Heep - Wizards & Demons.

(If you are interested, you can buy it to download as a desktop image from Roger's site.)

But back to Live At Koko... You can read the review for full details but the edited highlight is: I like it! Comments and constructive criticism is welcome either here or on the Moshville Times site.

Back in the saddle again

Just started writing for the Moshville Times, so decided it was well past time to start writing here too.  My first two reviews have been about, guess what, Rush!

• Review: Rush - 2112
• Reveiw: A year of Rush

Head over there and leave a comment. All comments and constructive criticism gratefully received.

It's Christmas - Time for a Bonamassa download!

I haven't written anything in this blog since February!? Crumbs.

Finally though, something to write about... And guess what? It's a free download from Joe Bonamassa. Another year, another Christmas tune. Check it out, then download (see below the video for details).

You can download Lonesome Christmas here and for every download (up to 25 December), Joe will donate money to the Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation. What's not to like? You get a great Christmas track and Joe donates to charity.

And another one...

The outstandingly brilliant Joe Bonamassa and the wonderful Beth Hart have made yet another track available for free download: Close To My Fire. Give them your email address and download gorgeously laid back track.

So what do you think of Beth's vocals?

Free Download: BethHart and Joe Bonamassa

Today is Beth Hart's birthday. Happy birthday Beth.

Somewhat unusually though, instead of getting presents for her birthday... she is giving a present to us. Namely, a free track from an album called Seesaw that she did with Joe Bonamassa. Specifically, you can give your email address in exchange for the title track.

So what are you waiting for? Go get a free download and celebrate Beth's birthday!

Review of the year

Distinct lack of blogging during 2013.

New Year Resolution: try to get back to at least one post a week. 

Proof of the pudding: Review of stuff added to my iPod in 2013

Introduction (by way of an excuse)

First off, not a lot of new albums. This is due to a combination of too little time and more importantly, too little money. As a result, most of the additions are charity shop purchases. But here's what I did add, in the order of addition. 

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (Remastered)

Very pleased to find this in a charity shop early in January 2013. It's an album that I have never owned, not even on vinyl, but one I always intended to get. I was familiar with most of the songs but it is always good to hear stuff in the order decided when it was first released and in relation to the other stuff on album. It is not my favourite Zeppelin album (my favourite is Led Zeppelin I in case anybody is interested) but well worth having. It has a great track to kicking off with in The Song Remains The Same and a very strong finish in No Quarter and The Ocean.

Miss The Occupier - Keeping Company With Wolves

I have featured Miss The Occupier in this blog before and declared a possible source of bias (I know Roz, the lead singer and bass player). I picked up a copy of this album at the launch gig back in March. the addition of keyboards to their sound is interesting. For me the stand out track is Song For The Miserable which, among other things, gives the lie to Roz's claim to be a vocalist rather than a singer!

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

Another charity shop purchase. Mr Plant's voice still sounds great but Ms Krauss' vocals don't really grab me. Having said that, Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) is well worth a listen. 

Slash - Apocalyptic Love (Special Edition)

Slash is an outstandingly good guitarist with a talent for creating memorable riffs. Myles Kennedy is an awesome vocalist able to bring power and emotion to his performance. What's not to like about this album? My favourite tracks from the previous Slash album, R&Fn'R were Back From Cali and By The Sword, both of which featured Mr Kennedy, so I was pleased when I heard he was the only vocalist on this album. Having all the featured vocalists on R&Fn'R was fun but settling on the one vocalist this time made it feel more consistent. There's not a duff track on the album so picking a favourite is tricky. Anastasia is good, but if pushed, I'd probably choose You're A Lie.

The Temperance Movement - Pride EP

Another band where I have to admit to a personal connection - I kent his faither. By "his faither" I mean I know the lead singer's father, and I also know his wee brother, although I have lost touch with both of them. The lead singer is a chap called Phil Campbell and I've followed him from when he was a solo artist, when he was in a group and then solo again... but the stuff he is doing with the Temperance Movement is just outstanding and, for me, this is the best I've heard from him yet. In particular, Only Friend is stunning. First time I heard it was on the radio. At the time, I didn't know Phil was in the band and I assumed it was a cover of an old Blues song. It was only when Inlooked it up that I discovered who the lead singer was and that they had written it themselves. Their new album is still on my wish list - with a bit of luck, I'll get it for my birthday. :-)

Genesis - Calling All Stations

I would count myself a fan of Genesis, but more the classic Gabriel era Genesis; I lost patience a bit with them when Collins took over vocal duties. I have most of the Genesis albums but don't have all of the ones produced after Gabriel left. In particular, I never bothered getting Calling All Stations because it was panned by one and all. Picked it up in a charity shop though and it's much better than I thought it would be. It is closer to old-style prog Genesis than the immediately preceding pop Genesis - I suspect that's why it didn't do so well when it was released. It's not a great album but it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There are no five star tracks but four out of eleven tracks rated at four star makes it better than many I have in my iTunes collection!

Hayseed Dixie - Let There Be Rockgrass

Hayseed Dixie featured in my When musical worlds collide post in 2009 but it was only last year, when I came across this album in a charity shop, that I finally got around to listening to more than the odd track. They don't disappoint. Perhaps the key to a good musical spoof is that the spoof has to be good. That is, it works best when the people doing the spoof are not just mocking something but are good at what they do and have a love for the music that they are creating and aping. It seems to me that Hayseed Dixie manage that balancing act perfectly. They are clearly good musicians and perform the Bluegrass style songs with skill and passion. But they also seem to love the rock music they are covering while managing to avoid a stifling reverence for it. For me, the standout track is Highway to Hell - I think Bon Scott would have loved it!

That's all for now. It is already a longer post than I intended. I still have a few more albums that I added to my collection in 2013 but I will try and do another post about them soon.

What were the stand our additions to your music collection in 2013?

Happy Christmas!

First of all, a Happy Christmas to you all. It has been so long since I posted here, I'm not sure anyone will read this but Happy Christmas anyway!

For the last few years I have posted a special Advent version of Free Download Friday offering links to free festive music on the four Fridays before Christmas. This year, I managed two Free Download Fridays and no Advent downloads. Sorry. I did, however, collect a few good freebies, so I offer them here as a Christmas present.

1) Joe Bonamassa

Another year, and another Christmas download from Joe. Perhaps not as strong as previous offerings (no longer available, but you can read about them in my previous post) but a new track from Mr Bonamassa is always worth a listen. You can download it from his website in exchange for enduring a particularly bizarre web page!

2) Hayseed Dixie

Thanks to my colleague, Mr Mosh, for this link... I posted a video of Hayseed Dixie back in 2009 but they have never featured in this blog as a free download. But just in time for Christmas, they posted links on their facebook page to two Christmas tracks. White Trash Xmas is good and well worth a listen but Misty Wonderland Hop is outstanding! Download it now and put it on repeat for the rest of Christmas - you'll thank me later.

3) Roadrunner Records

At a time when free downloads are becoming harder to find, it's great to see that Roadrunner Records is still making tracks available on a semi-regular basis. This year, it looks like the main free download (well, the one featured on the front page of the UK site) is No Presents For Christmas from King Diamond. After a deceptively traditional start, it soon launches into its full metal glory! As well as the this track, they have also "re-released" Black Stone Cherry's Santa Claus Is Back In Town which is outrageously good! The sweartastic X-M@$ from Corey Taylor is also available for free but I'll leave you to find that one yourself. (This is a family friendly blog after all!) Finally, while looking around to see what else is available, I found a track from 2012 that I obviously missed last year that is still available for download: Royal Republic have an acoustic cover of Chris Rea's classic Driving Home For Christmas. The sound quality is a bit tinny but it is still a good track.

4)  For everyone else

I realise that the three sets of download above will not be to everyone's taste, so here are a few alternatives where hopefully there will be something for everyone.

• CBC's Twelve Days Of Christmas: thirteen tracks to choose from. I like The Little Drummer Boy from Walk Off The Earth and I Believe In Father Christmas from Moist but my favourite by a long stretch is the boogie-woogie piano version of Winter Wonderland from Michael Kaeshammer (see video below). 
• Paste Holiday Sampler 2013: Fourteen tracks in this one. My favourite is Children Go Where I Send Thee from Nick Lowe but I like the submissions from Otis Redding, Little Hurricane and The Last Bison too.
• Classical guitar - Craig Ogden: A beautiful version of Deck The Halls.

That's it for this year. Merry Christmas and, in the words of Tiny Tim: God bless us every one!

Free Download Friday #136; Roadrunner Records at Download

After a very long gap, and after my first post in ages on Thursday, I decided it was long past time for a new Free Download Friday.

So, here is another download from the ever reliable Roadrunner Records. As they have done for the last couple of years, they have released a free sampler album with a track from each of their acts that are playing Download this year.

It's brilliant idea, as I've remarked before, and I don't understand why more labels don't do this. Festivals have oodles of bands and it can't be easy to decide who you want to see. So, putting out a sampler to let people who are unfamiliar with your roster hear what your acts are like is a no-brainer. If they like what they hear, they are more likely to go and hear!

The tracks and artists on offer are as follows:

1. Absolute Zero - Stone Sour
2. Black Tongue - Mastodon
3. Bruane Brenn - Kvelertak
4. Witchtripper - Down
5. Live It Up - Airbourne
6. Anastasia - Slash
7. White Trash Millionaire - Black Stone Cherry
8. In Due Time - Killswitch Engage
9. Ghost Walking - Lamb Of God
10. Chaos Lives In Everything (feat. Skrillex) - Korn

Ten tracks for free. Welcome back to Free Download Friday!

Rush - Clockwork Angels Tour

It's been far too long since I updated this blog but I cannot let the Rush concert in Glasgow last Thursday go by without comment.

Rush, SECC Glasgow, 30 May 2013,
a photo by DavidDMuir on Flickr.

Let's get the obvious out the way first. it was awesome!

I first saw them in concert in 1978 at the Glasgow Apollo for the Farewell To Kings tour and I often cite that as my favourite gig ever but I think Thursday's concert may well knock the '78 concert off the top spot. Why do I say that? Was it the light show? Was it the back projection? Was it the fireworks? Certainly, the shows have become more spectacular as the years have gone by, and the current show is possibly their most pyrotechnic yet, but explosions alone do not a great show make...

With Rush concerts, it's always been about the musicianship... at least, that's what it's been for me. Every time I see them live, I am astonished at how faithfully the three of them reproduce the sounds from their studio albums in a concert setting. Can I say that again? Three of them. On stage. Live! No studio trickery for support. Just three outstanding musicians working together to produce something that many bands twice their size (and nowadays half their age) would struggle to match! But what made this tour special was, not only did we have at least ninety minutes of the three of them working wonders by triggering samples and playing synthesisers with what ever spare limb wasn't already involved in playing their "main" instrument, we also had about an hour of Rush playing along with a string section. And the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble did what I would have said was impossible; they made Rush sound even better than usual!

The set list is embedded below:

Edit this setlist | More Rush setlists

As you can see, The Clockwork Angels String Ensemble played for most of the second set, which is where Rush played almost the whole of the Clockwork Angels album, but they also played along with Dreamline, Red Sector A and YYZ. Now, YYZ in particular, I have heard them play live umpteen times but I don't think it has ever sounded better than it did last week with the string ensemble rocking it up behind Rush.



Final Thoughts
As I sat in the SECC waiting for the concert to begin feeling stupidly excited, I thought back to my first Rush gig where I felt just as stupidly excited. What is it about Rush that can make a fat fifty year old man feel like a teenager again? What ever it is, long may it continue!

Academic Research

I did consider seeking funding for Rock related research some time ago (see Hazardous headbanging!) but as usual I didn't go any further than the, "Wouldn't it be a good idea..." stage.

But there is clearly research money out there for those who are willing to bid for it. See for example the wonderful Moshers, Heavy Metal and Emergent Behavior report on the MIT Technology Review site.

In the unlikely event that readers of this blog are unfamiliar with the concept of mosh pits, someone has helpfully defined some rules:

I like the way he describes some mosh pits as "Fight Club with a soundtrack!". (The first rule of Fight Club prevents me from explaining this if you don't get it already.) See also How To Survive A Mosh Pit.

So what do you think? What research idea could I pitch that will convince someone to fund me to attend concerts? If you come up with a winning idea, I am willing to give you a co-author credit on the paper!

Fun On Friday #135: Rock Candy Funk Party

This is a bit different from other Fun on Friday and I don't think Funky Friday is likely to become a regular feature but here is another free download from Mr Joe Bonamassa.

A visit to the Rock Candy Funk Party web page, a like on facebook and the track is yours to download. Check out the video if you're in two minds:

Really like the drumming and interesting to hear Joe strut his funky stuff. What do you think?

New Year Resolution

My musical New Year Resolution this year is essentially the same as last year's. Let me explain...

272/365: Apple of my eyePod,
a photo by DavidDMuir on Flickr.

Last year, as I copied my collection of Christmas music onto my iPod, I noticed I had 3.5 days worth of seasonal songs. (A figure that prompted one of my fourth years to question why so much since most of it was rubbish!) I also saw that I had just over 52 days worth of music altogether in iTunes. This made me think: "Fifty-two days worth of music and fifty-two weeks in a year. I could do a day a week and listen to my entire iTune library in a year." Of course, a bit of basic arithmetic would have made me realise that there was no way I would manage to listen to 3.5 hours of music a day, seven days a week, but I didn't do the calculations and beginning with A for AC/DC on January first I started to work my way through my music collection.

Now, I knew I wouldn't stick strictly to alphabetical order (for example I jumped to J for Joe Bonamassa prior to going to see him in concert) and sometimes I'd just be in the mood for a particular album/artist, but I still hoped to get a good bit through the alphabet before the end of the year.

I got to D for Dire Straits!

So my resolution this year is to try to get to J or K before the end of 2013. I'll keep you posted.

Free Download Friday #134: Fourth Friday In Advent

Give Love On Chrsitmas

To make up for what is possibly the latest Free Download Friday ever, here's an eleven track Christmas download:

This is another one where you can download the tracks for free but, if you want, you can make a donation to a charity; in this case to a charity called Blood:Water Mission. The Noise Trade site gives the following information about the charity:

Blood:Water Mission was established by Grammy Award winning band Jars of Clay to empower communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its launch in 2005, Blood:Water has raised millions of dollars through the creative efforts of individuals seeking to make a difference. To date, Blood:Water has partnered with more than 1,300 communities in Africa, providing life-saving water for 800,000 people in 11 different countries and access to HIV/AIDS education, treatment and support for nearly 40,000 people.

Have a good Christmas!